Palaeocast

17 Aug 2026

The Cambrian Explosion is one of the most significant events in evolutionary history. Classically, it describes the sudden appearance of complex fossils (including all major animal groups) at the

13 May 2026

The Carboniferous period is host to some of the largest arthropods to have ever lived. Giant taxa such as the griffenfly Meganuera and the millipede Arthropleura are almost talismanic and are often

2 May 2026

The Carboniferous period is host to some of the largest arthropods to have ever lived. Giant taxa such as the griffenfly Meganuera and the millipede Arthropleura are almost talismanic and are often

15 Apr 2026

Prof. Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum, London, recently authored A History of Dinosaurs in 50 Fossils. We took this as an opportunity to get an overview of what we really know about

17 Mar 2026

Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona, USA is a hub for Triassic palaeontology and has exposures representing 20 million years of the Late Triassic Chinle Formation. Visitors marvel

5 Feb 2026

Today, there is only one living species of rhynchocephalian: the tuatara of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Despite today's paucity of species, this was once a diverse group of reptiles, with a wide range of

12 Dec 2025

We've been given exclusive access to a brand new study examining the chemistry of a mosasaur tooth found within the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota. The remarkable circumstances of

3 Dec 2025

19 Sep 2025

The iguanodontians were an incredibly successful group within the Cretaceous. They could reach incredible sizes, with the largest species even matching the proportions of some sauropods, and they

13 Sep 2025

Grassy biomes, including grasslands, savannahs and crops, cover over 40% of all land on Earth. They play a significant role in carbon and silica cycles and have a large impact upon the climate.

2 Sep 2025

Grassy biomes, including grasslands, savannahs and crops, cover over 40% of all land on Earth. They play a significant role in carbon and silica cycles and have a large impact upon the climate.

15 Aug 2025

Determining the origin of teeth in vertebrates is an incredibly significant but notoriously difficult problem within palaeontology. Teeth didn't evolve in the mouths of our ancestors, but are first

1 Aug 2025

Determining the origin of teeth in vertebrates is an incredibly significant but notoriously difficult problem within palaeontology. Teeth didn't evolve in the mouths of our ancestors, but are first

15 Jul 2025

Ants are a hugely successful family of eusocial insects with over 14,000 modern species described. They are known from every continent except Antarctica and show a wide range of ecologies. Whilst

1 Jul 2025

Ants are a hugely successful family of eusocial insects with over 14,000 modern species described. They are known from every continent except Antarctica and show a wide range of ecologies. Whilst

22 Feb 2025

An ecosystem can be described as all the interactions that occur between organisms and their physical environment. The processes acting within an ecosystem operate on a wide range of spatial and

23 Jul 2024

15 Jun 2024

Found in the fossil record between the Jurassic and the middle Miocene, Notosuchia was a highly diverse and strange group of crocodylomorphs, most notable for their terrestrial lifestyle. Joining us

22 Mar 2024

The field of evolutionary biology has been greatly influenced by the development of modern genetic methodology. The understanding of genes, genomes and the molecular mechanisms key to life on Earth

19 Feb 2024

In 12 years of podcasting, we have never actually taken the time to address the fundamentals of our field. Such questions could include: what is palaeontology, what is a fossil, how does one become a

7 Feb 2024

It's been two centuries since the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, was named by William Buckland and to commemorate the date, the Natural History Museum hosted '200 Years of Dinosaurs: Their Rise, Fall,

6 Feb 2024

The Middle Jurassic is incredibly important to our understanding of pterosaur evolution; however, the remarkable rarity and incompleteness of Middle Jurassic pterosaurs has long hampered scientific

8 Dec 2023

Originally mounted in 1907, the Carnegie specimen is the best example of the sauropod dinosaur Diplodocus, and perhaps the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world. Casts of the specimen, including

9 Nov 2023

LOOP 8.4: LOOP Showrunner Dan Tapster returns to give a retrospective on the series and its production. We look at went well and address criticisms; is it possible to keep everyone happy? We finish

9 Nov 2023

LOOP 8.3: Episode 8's producer, Sophie Lanfear, joins us again to describe how difficult it was to wrap the series up, having to balance telling the story of the last ice age with conveying the

9 Nov 2023

LOOP 8.2: Prof. Danielle Schreve, Royal Holloway University of London, joins us to cover the last 2 million years of Earth's history. We explore the periodicity of glacials and interglacials and the

9 Nov 2023

LOOP 8.1: Dave and Tom introduce episode 8 and round of this special series on Life On Our Planet. We talk about our favourite scenes and reflect on our time working on the documentary and how our

7 Nov 2023

LOOP 7.3: We're taken into the field to film snow leopards by episode 7's Assistant Producer, Darren Williams. He reveals how difficult it is to get just a few minutes of video, both logistically and

7 Nov 2023

LOOP 7.2: Prof. Christine Janis, University of Bristol, outlines mammalian evolution and focusses on the global events that governs their radiation. We look at why mammals survived the K-Pg mass

7 Nov 2023

LOOP 7.1: In the introduction to episode 7, Dave and Tom just about keep it together whilst reflecting on the most emotional scene of the show. We also celebrate the inclusion of the Antarctic

7 Nov 2023

LOOP 6.4: Prof. Anjan Bhullar continues his overview of avian evolution with a look at how the birds fared after the K-Pg mass extinction. What was it that allowed birds to survive when the non-avian

6 Nov 2023

LOOP 6.3: Documentary research takes you down a lot of unexpected avenues. If you're recreating something like the Chicxulub impact and the K-Pg mass extinction, then you need to be able to provide

6 Nov 2023

LOOP 6.2: Dr Anjan Bhullar, Yale University, returns to speak further about dinosaurs. He's pressed on where he'd draw the line between dinosaur and bird, or whether there should even be a

6 Nov 2023

LOOP 6.1: Dave and Tom introduce us to episode 6 of Life On Our Planet and the pair touch upon the Chicxulub impact and the radiation of birds into the Cenozoic. Dave curtails the introduction with

5 Nov 2023

LOOP 5.3: We're exploring feather evolution with Dr Anjan Bhullar, University of Yale. We trace feathers up the theropod family tree and question whether or not they would be present in ALL

5 Nov 2023

LOOP 5.2: Producer Barny Revill returns to talk about his second episode. With the public spotlight firmly fixated on the dinosaurs, how much effort had to go into their GCI models and does the

5 Nov 2023

LOOP 5.1: It's episode 5 and Dave and Tom are pronouncing dinosaur names all wrong. Does any actually pronounce it "Deinonychus"? Dave reveals why Netflix chose Morgan Freeman as narrator over

28 Oct 2023

LOOP 4.3: Prof. Peter Falkingham, Liverpool John Moores University, was the consultant biomechanist for the series. He introduces us to the importance of biomechanics in CGI, but more widely in

28 Oct 2023

LOOP 4.2: We get down to details with Producer Barny Revill and analyse some of the different elements of episode 4: What were the challenges of working in such inhospitable environments? How do you

28 Oct 2023

LOOP 4.1: Against the odds, we've all made it through the PTME. It's now time to focus on episode 4, with the reptiles and their adaptation to different environments. We touch upon biomechanics and

27 Oct 2023

LOOP 3.4: With researcher Ida-May Jones, we explore the Venn diagram of academic and documentary research. She introduces us to the strawberry dart frogs and the extraordinary lengths that mothers

27 Oct 2023

LOOP 3.3: Prof. Mike Benton, University of Bristol, gives us an overview of the major events in tetrapod evolution. He reveals some of the surprising traits that lobe-finned fishes 'pre-possessed'

27 Oct 2023

LOOP 3.2: Producer Sophie Lanfear gives us our first insights into how documentaries are shaped. She tells us about the enormous scope of episode three and the difficulty of trying to fit in so many

27 Oct 2023

LOOP 3.1: We introduce episode three of Life On Our Planet and discuss one of the most significant stories in the series. We're in agreement that lichens are the unsung heroes of the whole series and

26 Oct 2023

LOOP 2.4: Silverback researcher Edd Dyer joins us to introduce us to his part in the creation of the series. The title 'researcher' really doesn't do justice to the incredible scope of his role which

26 Oct 2023

LOOP 2.3: Hydrodynamicist Dr Tom Fletcher, Silverback Films, returns to explore the science behind Dunkleosteus. How much of the fossil is known? How does the model compare to the latest

26 Oct 2023

LOOP 2.2: Prof. Christian Klug, University of Zurich, is our first academic guest. He introduces us to the Cambrian explosion, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event and the Late Ordovician

26 Oct 2023

LOOP 2.1: We introduce episode two of Life On Our Planet and discuss our roles in its creation. We're down deep in the geological time with all the "crunchy and squishy" organisms. We talk about our

25 Oct 2023

In LOOP 1.2 we are joined by showrunner Dan Tapster. He's the one responsible for pulling everything together, designing the story and creating the best production team. We learn about how LOOP first

25 Oct 2023

Life On Our Planet (LOOP) is a new 8-part series created for Netflix by Silverback Films and Amblin Television. This Steven Spielberg produced series, narrated by Morgan Freeman, is hugely ambitious